Croydon Travel Guide

Transport links connecting Croydon with London and the south coast are pretty good, if expensive. Most trains into London stop at Victoria or London Bridge; the Brighton - Bedford line runs through East Croydon (stopping helpfully at Luton Airport), and trains south to Gatwick Airport are also frequent.

Unfortunately the Underground only goes as far south as Brixton, but trains run throughout the night (at least hourly from London Victoria) as do night buses.

Finally, decades after the old trams stopped running in Croydon, a new Tramlink opened in 2000 and has since proved to be the most reliable public transport service in the UK! Also popular because it runs east-west (not north-south like the trains) connecting Croydon with Wimbledon, Beckenham Junction and New Addington.

For a helpful site with links about all forms of public transport in Croydon, see link below.

Whilst it's not a blackspot, violent crime has been gradually increasing in Croydon, such as the occasional shooting outside a nightclub or murder in a park. These are common enough events in any big city, but I feel less safe walking around late at night in Croydon than I used to a few years ago.

There's no need to go to great lengths, but just exercise a sensible level of caution; try to avoid walking alone in the parks (including Queen's park) late at night, and be wary of certain areas such as Surrey Street and past the northern part of North End (near West Croydon Station) at night too.

2 more images

A little known secret is the towns club, Croydon FC, whose ground is in the suburb of Woodside on the outskirts of Croydon.
Just jump on a Number 1(Elmers End) or 2(Beckenham Junction) tram from East Croydon and get off several stops later at Arena station and the ground is visible from the tram stop.
Not well supported by the local community but i found the supporters to be a very friendly bunch and was witness to a cracking game of football (Croydon won 8-5! )
Club has a website at www.croydon-fc.co.uk
I will definetly go there again next season

Favorite thing: The auditorium of this "Arts and Entertainment Centre" has possibly the best acoustics in London. Home to a good classical orchestra, it is ideally suited to showing films, concerts, comedy shows, theatre, and school speech days (yes, I speak from experience).

It's not very pretty from the outside, although the changing coloured lighting attempts to liven it up at night, but the venue is good nonetheless and provides a wide variety of entertainment to a wide range of audiences.

See www.fairfield.co.uk to find out what's on.